The Joy of Books

Historian Thomas Macaulay once said, "I would rather be poor in a cottage of books than a king without the desire to read." Amen! What would our lives be without books? Especially for those of us who have been instilled with a wrestless passion, a zealous abandon, an earnest hungering for the knowledge concealed between those pages. Oh the wonderful feeling when a good book is discovered! that moment of realization when you realize that this is the stuff of wonder and magnificence. You begin to feel that yearning, that pull, that tug, as the author begins to draw you into the world of their mind. The author entices the mind and ignites the senses, luring you in, deeper and farther...stretching the mind and fueling the imagination, daring you to identify with characters, to see a little bit of yourself in the people, and perhaps letting your mind wander and attempt, what by your physical mind is deemed impossible, through those characters. Good books are magnificence, brilliance, and wonder embodied; beauty, goodness, and truth, between two pieces of wood (the really good ones :); our past, present, future, in one moment; the story of life, love, and the pursuit of happiness in the palm of your hand...


Unfortunately, in our day and age a book of such description is hard to find, thus worth the time if found. Voltaire once made a statement that can echo forward into our time, "I keep to old books, for they teach me something; from the new I learn very little." Thankfully, there are those faithful few of the modern age that cling to the traditions of old by writing substantive material, but I pray that many more will come as well. Until that time, however, we cling to those today that make the effort, and we hold onto the classics, which oftens results in digging through old bookshops in foreign countries, bartering with little old men over their earth-shattering prices...our backs suffer, knees suffer, and our checkbooks certainly feel the pain, but the knowledge contained within is priceless. Thus, if we actually followed John Ruskin's charge of, "A book worth reading is a book worth buying." The most well-read man by classic standards will most likely man be one of the poorest in material wealth, but oh the wealth of his mind! As a result, we press on searching and foraging throughout the world in back alleys and beaten up book stands, living by the motto, "Wear the old coat, buy the new book!"


Thus, a tradition that I shall begin with my blog is a library entry. Each time I buy a new book, I will post it, thus officially starting my library. Now I have a little backtracking from England to do, but for now I shall begin with a recent purchase...

Library Entry:

Book: The Lives of the Most Eminent English Poets With Critical Observations on their Works. Vols. 1-4.
Author: Samuel Johnson
Date: 1819
Appearance: beautiful leather binding, a little worse for wear in a few areas, but overall in pretty good condition.
Location Found: Discovered by a friend, who found them in New York.
Price: $20 :)


My library has officially begun. The motto is by Sir Thomas Aquinas, "Beware the man of one book."